Melody, Daughter of the Sea
by RiverRose101
Summary: Melody's life was as normal as could be while struggling with ADHD and dyslexia, until she finds herself running through the woods chased by hellhounds. She arrives at Camp Half-Blood, where she learns that she shouldn't exist, let alone be nearly as powerful as the gods. She is issued a quest, and her failure could mean the end of the world, but success could mean the end of her.
1. Chapter 1

A pop quiz. Great. Just what I needed to ease my worried mind.

I was sitting in a freezing cold classroom, bitter cold wind drifting through the windows and chilling me to the bone, as it was the middle of winter. Why you'd leave the windows in a classroom open on a winter day in New York, I don't know.

The other students groaned, but they couldn't possibly be as miserable as I felt. My mind was already in a whole other universe. No way was I going to be able to pass this test.

See, the thing was, I had had a strange dream the night before, but most of it was unclear. In my dream, I was being chased, but I couldn't see what was chasing me, or where I was, or anything. All I knew was that I was being chased by someone. Or _something._

I tried not to think about it as the science teacher, Ms. Frasier, who wore a silk green shirt and black denim jeans, handed out the science test that I knew I was going to fail.

About twenty minutes in, I still had nothing written except my name. I had been diagnosed with dyslexia, not to mention ADHD, for as long as I could remember. The harder I tried to read the words on the test, the more they seemed to swim off the page and swirl around my head in a jumble of nonsense.

About five minutes later, as I was rubbing my temples in concentration, the teacher did what I dreaded she would do. She walked over to me, and looked over my shoulder onto my paper.

"Miss Smith!" said the teacher, loud enough that other students perked up, happy for the distraction from their tests. She stared down her long, pointed nose at me. "Tell me, why do you have nothing on your paper?" she asked. All the other students were then staring at me and Ms. Frasier, who, for some strange reason, was carrying around a ruler. I hoped it wasn't for smacking, but she couldn't do that anyways.

"I can't read it, Ms. Frasier." I replied, trying to sound polite so that I didn't get a detention for the hundredth time in a row.

"Ah, yes, your dyslexia, eh?" said Ms. Frasier suspiciously. "Well, you may have your other teachers fooled, but I know better. I know, that on the end of this ruler, is an _idiot_." she pointed her ruler at me. The class stared in silence at the strange scene.

I thought for a moment before I said, "I'm sorry Ms. Frasier, I didn't quite understand. Which end were you referring to?" I said innocently, though I knew I'd just landed myself detention for a week. The class oohed.

Ms. Frasier looked taken aback, but she gathered herself and said, "Principal's office, now."

I did as I was told, so that I wouldn't get into any more trouble than I was already in.

I sat in the principal's office, waiting for Mr. Blofis, the principal at Goode, to finish sorting out some papers on his desk. I stared around the principal's office. There were hundreds of papers lying on the desk, as well as tacked up on the walls. There was a phone on the corner of the desk, which I knew I'd have to call my mom on after I told him what had happened.

Finally, he swiveled around in his chair, and spoke. "So, Melody. What kind of trouble have you gotten yourself into now?" I had been in there enough times that it was a usual meeting.

I recounted the story quite reluctantly, and when I got to the part about what I had said, I could tell he was trying to hide a smile. But I knew I'd still get punished.

"Well, you're going to have to call your mother, Melody." he said.

"Yes, of course, sir." I got up and grabbed the phone, and punched in my mom's cell number. It rang a few times before I heard her pick up.

"Melody? What have you done this time?" my mom's voice spoke on the other line. All of a sudden I felt like I had a bowling ball in my stomach. Was I really that much of a pain to my mother?

I could picture her in my mind, dirty blonde hair pinned up into a cute, messy bun. Twinkling blue eyes, that reminded me of rivers in the sunlight. And of course, her Fairway Market cashier's uniform, as always.

I recounted, yet again, what had happened in science class that day. "Oh, Melody. You are your father's child. But you're still in trouble, young lady. That's no way to talk to a teacher."

"That's no way to talk to a student!" I was getting mad now. "Mom, she called me an _idiot_."

"Look, Mel, I'm sorry she called you an idiot, but you could've at least kept your mouth shut."

"That's kind of hard with ADHD, Mom." I replied.

"Well, you need to take more responsibility for your actions." she said.

"Look, can we just talk about this at home?" I asked. I really did not want to continue that conversation in front of the principal.

"Fine. _Be good_, I mean it." she said.

"Bye." I said as I put down the receiver.

"Detention, 2:30 to 3:30. I suggest you get back to class now, Melody."

I just nodded as I grabbed my stuff and walked out the door.

The day really dragged by. My science class is more towards the end of the school day, but detention made it even longer. I guess I really should have kept my mouth shut. Gosh, sometimes I really hated ADHD.

For detention, I had to sit and sort out a whole bunch of Ms. Frasier's papers, which I really found unfair. It took me forever, and all of them had to be sorted a very certain way, and I'm guessing Ms. Frasier made some things up on the spot just to make my job harder.

When the late bus finally came, I was pretty exhausted. I hurriedly grabbed all my school stuff, and was the first one on. I was very eager to get home, though I knew it wasn't going to be too much better than school.

When I got home, I slipped off my combat boots, stuffed them in the coat closet, as well as my backpack. I was happy to find that the only person there was my mom, as well as my pit bull, Rex, who belonged to my awful stepfather, Rob.

I guess I should explain. Well, a while back, my mom married this horrible man named Rob Hughes, but she kept her maiden name, Smith. Rob was a disgusting pig, and that's the nicest way I could put it.

Rob stunk up the place with his cigarettes and beer. He had his "buddies" over a lot, too, which resulted in a smelly apartment filled with a whole bunch of smelly guys. My apartment smelled of beer, stale cigarettes, and moldy cheese.

Rex had started his deep growling and barking immediately when I had come in, but stopped when he realized it was me. My mom and I took care of Rex more than a thousand Robs would have.

Rex was red and white, with a black spiked collar. Rob had gotten him a few years ago, as he thought a pit bull would be the perfect dog to have in the house. (Go figure.)

Despite his fierce bark and deep growl, (and breed) Rex was more of a marshmallow than anything. Heck, Marshmallow would've fit him better than Rex. Rob had given up on taking care of Rex when he had found out that he wasn't really much for attacking.

Anyways, when I walked into the living room, I knew what awaited me. A lecture. And, getting into as much trouble as I do, I was very used to lectures, and was not eager to have another one.

And sure enough, I saw my mom sitting on our ugly brown couch in sweats and a t-shirt.

"Please, Mom, can we skip the lecture?" I asked hopefully. My mom refused to call them "lectures", but that's what they were.

"I just want you to know that you are fourteen, and have to start taking more responsibility for your actions."

"Well, I went to detention, didn't I?"

"Melody, that's exactly what you don't want to do." It was true. I didn't want to go to detention, but I couldn't help opening my mouth instead of keeping it shut, which was strange, because I barely ever talked to anyone. Except for in a situation when somebody insulted me, in which I talked back. And I had to admit, I was pretty sassy.

"I know, I know, I'll try harder. I _will_." I said, that last response to my mother's uncertain face.

I walked into my room, and busied myself with cleaning. My room wasn't that messy, but it wasn't that clean, either.

I purposely tried not to keep too many things in room. Because of my ADHD, I got distracted easily. So if I was trying to do something like homework in my room, I would probably just stare at something and drift off into Melody World.

Oh yeah, homework. No! I started towards my door, when I remembered that I had done it on the bus. Thank God. I did _not_ want to do homework.

Finally, at around six o'clock, it was dinnertime. We (as in me, my mom, and Rob) sat around our small little table eating what I thought was steak, until I bit into it. It wasn't bad, actually, but it was different. "What's this?" I asked my mom, who was eating her asparagus.

"It's tofu. What, you don't like it?"

"No, it's not that I don't like it, it just tastes different, that's all." It was pretty unlikely that my mom would have been insulted if I said I didn't like it, because, unlike literally everyone, she knew that you're not going to like everything in life.

Rob, however, found it disgusting. "Andrea, why didn't you cook us up some real food?"

I could tell my mom wasn't very happy with that comment. She deserved better than to be married to him. My mom is the nicest person I know, and she's always there for me, no matter what. "This is healthier." my mom answered briefly.

Rob didn't respond, but he didn't really eat anything, either. Fine, be hungry, I thought to myself.

After dinner, I rinsed my plate and set it in the sink, as well as my cup, and headed back to my room.

I spent about an hour making sketches in my sketchbook. I made sketches of trees, bridges, cities, and such. I got my artistic ability from my mother's father, who was Italian, and I also got musical talent from my grandmother, who was Spanish. They had met on a trip to the U.S, where they got married and had my mom, but they died in a car crash a while later.

My mom and I know three languages, all of which came from my grandparents. We know Italian, Spanish, and English. I technically know five languages, but I'll explain later.

I decided I'd try and go to bed early, so I slipped into some pajama pants and a t-shirt, threw my dirty clothes into the hamper, and climbed into bed.

I lied awake for nearly a half an hour before I finally went to sleep, because my head was a bit preoccupied with what had happened that day. Then I thought about the dream I had had the night before. Would I see it again? Would I be able to find out more?

When I finally drifted off into sleep, my questions were answered.


	2. Chapter 2

In my dream, I was yet again being chased, but this time, I was determined to see what they were. I couldn't stop long enough to check, or they'd get me. I kept glancing over my shoulder quickly, but enough times so that they finally started to take shape.

They were some kind of mutant dog creature thingies. Yeah, sorry about that. But I didn't know what they were! Let alone why they were chasing me.

There were around four, three at the least. Each one of them had coal black fur, glowing red eyes, and long, sharp fangs. Fangs? Teeth? I'm going with fangs.

I was running through snow, which seemed to slow me down, but the dogs (if you can call them that) didn't seem to have any trouble. I could hear their deep, menacing growls behind me, and my breath fogged in front of me as I panted.

I was running through the forest, at night, and I could only see because of the moonlight barely illuminating the woods through the cracks in the canopy above. The air was chilly, and stung my face as I made my way through the woods, jumping over roots and dodging trees.

The dogs started to gain on me. I knew I'd never be able to take them, and eventually, I'd tire out and be unable to run anymore.

I tried gaining speed, but not so much that I wouldn't be able to run a long distance. I kept running, occasionally checking behind me, and every time, I saw the dogs chasing me.

Something wasn't right. If the dogs had wanted to kill me, they would've done it already. So why weren't they attacking?

I had a crazy idea. I wasn't even sure it would work, but I had to try. I stopped running abruptly, turned around, and faced the giant dogs. Yeah, that was definitely a crazy idea.

The dogs didn't realize what was going on until they were a foot in front of me. I threw my hands up in front of my face, expecting to be crushed, but instead, I felt nothing.

I looked around. All I saw were trees, a couple birds here and there. Where were the dogs? Did they simply just melt into the shadows?

It wasn't possible. Where were they?

All of a sudden I felt woozy. The world started spinning. I squeezed my eyes shut. When I finally opened my eyes after all the spinning had stopped, I was standing at the base of a giant pine tree that stood proudly at the top of a big hill.

The hill was overlooking a large, green valley, with woods, strawberry fields, and a river snaking from the base of the hill to the ocean beyond. I could see a four story big baby blue house with white trimming at the bottom of the hill, and some cabins arranged in a "u" on the other side of the river, on the edge of a wooded area.

My observing was cut short when I realized two things. A) the fields were green, when all around me there was snow, and B) I saw people.

I couldn't see them well enough to notice any faces, but there were three of them, a girl, and two boys. They were carrying an unconscious girl, but I couldn't be sure who. They were carrying her to the big house.

I found the scene very strange. Out of nowhere, I heard a voice speak beside me.

"You must hurry, get here before he finds out."

I turned to find the source if the voice. It was a teenage boy, about a year or two older than me. He had disheveled black hair, and startling sea-green eyes. We looked so much alike, except for a spray of freckles that ran across my nose and under my eyes.

_What are you talking about? _I wanted to say. _Who are you? Who is __**he**__? _My voice didn't work. I couldn't speak.

The boy reached into his pocket and pulled out a bright, bronze-colored pen, and started twirling it around with his fingers. "Hurry." He repeated himself.

I had no idea what he meant, and I had no time to decipher the meaning of his words before I awoke with a start, sweat trickling down the back of my neck and plastering my shirt to my skin.

Whoa. What did I just see?

I knew I shouldn't dwell on what I had seen, but I couldn't help forming questions in my mind. Who was that? Where had I been? What was the boy who looked so strangely like me talking about?

I tried not to think about it as I got ready for school.

The morning went by considerably fast, which I was very thankful for. Before I knew it, it was time for band.

In band, I played the piano. I really loved all the movement of my fingers. It must've been the ADHD.

When I walked into the band room, there were only a few other people there, wetting their reeds or sanitizing their mouth pieces. There was Garen, who played the trombone, there was Sarah, who played the trumpet, and Richie, who played the saxaphone.

I walked right over to my place at the piano. I felt right at home.

Nearly the whole band started filing through the doors a few minutes later, and took their seats with their instruments, ready to play.

When I got home, my neighbors Sophia and Joe were over, talking to my mom about something. They were talking in hushed tones, and stopped when I walked in.

"Hey, what's going on?" I said, eager to know. It's not every day you come home to some secret meeting.

Sophia was wearing a long, pink coat lined with white, along with black tights and white high heels. Joe was wearing a biker's jacket and ripped jeans. (He was unlike his wife in many ways, but they made the best couple.)

"Hey honey, how was school?" my mom said. She totally evaded my question.

"Fine." was all I said as I slipped off my combat boots and shoved them into the coat closet. I walked down the hallway to my bedroom, and set my backpack on my bed.

I sat in my room, doing my homework, when I heard the front door open and close. I got up from my bed, and walked into the living room.

"What was that all about?" I asked my mom as she sat on the couch, me taking my place next to her.

"Oh, nothing of importance." I could tell she wasn't being quite truthful.

I picked up the t.v remote and clicked the power button. Our old, rusty t.v had cracks on the screen from where Rob threw a beer bottle at it while he was watching the news one day.

"Anything good on?" I asked my mom. She shook her head.

I just sighed, got up, and walked over to my piano, where I started to play "She Could Be You" by Michael Suby. It was one of my favorite songs on the piano, but I couldn't care less for the lyrics.

"You play beautifully, Mel." my mother encouraged.

"You say that every time I play.' I said, looking up from the piano.

"Well, it's true."

Just then my awful stepfather came through the door, the last face I wanted to see. He went over to the refrigerator and got out a cold beer.

"Ugh, god, Andrea, why do you even let her keep that thing?" said Rob, putting his fingers in his ears as I continued to play. My mom's face was a bit pained.

"Mamá, enfrentarse a él . No se puede dejar que te empujan alrededor de eso." I said to my mother, which was spanish for, _Mom, stand up to him. You can't let him push you around like that._

"Hey, what are you saying?" He pointed a finger at me, then my mom. "What is she saying?"

My mom thought quickly and said, "She says your tie looks nice." Rob didn't really seem to believe it, but he didn't say anything after that, which is always good, but he was eyeing me suspiciously. He plopped down onto the couch and took a swig of his beer.

"¿Por qué no acaba de divorciarse de él ? Es horrible, y lo sabes." I said, ignoring the occasional glance from Rob. _Why don't you just divorce him? He's awful, and you know it._

"Bueno , Melody , ha sido bueno con nosotros en formas que simplemente no entiende." my mother replied. It meant, _Well, Melody, he's been good to us in ways that you just don't understand._

"No creo ni por un segundo." _I don't believe it for a second_. I glanced at my stepfather. He had taken off his shoes and the rancid smell of his feet was wafting through the air.

I went back to playing piano, but not for long. I needed some fresh air. I couldn't take any more of Rob's smelly socks, so I decided I'd go for a walk around the city.

"Mom, I'm going to go for a walk around town. Yes, I'll be careful, and yes, I'll be home for dinner."

"Alright, well, wrap up warm, and make sure you've got your watch." my mother said.

I grabbed my thick sweater, combat boots, and scarf from the coat closet, put them on, and headed out the door, down two staircases, and out the apartment complex.

When I went outside, I was met with a cold, tingling sensation. It was snowing lightly, but by the next day it was supposed to get a bit intense. If only it wasn't Friday, I probably could've gotten the next day off of school.

As I walked, my breath fogged in front of me, and I watched it drift away, over and over again, a new puff of fog every time I exhaled.

I walked past huge buildings like malls, office buildings, factories, all that good stuff. Lights shone in the windows as it started to get dark. I continued walking, but I decided I'd walk a little longer before I turned back.

I sat down on a bench, my hands in my pockets to keep warm. I breathed deeply, but nothing could've prepared me for what I was about to see.

Across the street, on the sidewalks along all the shops and apartments, with an expression on his face that said, _I don't have a care in the world_, was the boy from my dream.


	3. Chapter 3

I tried running after him, but then I was shoved by a fellow pedestrian, and distracted for a moment. When I turned around, he was gone.

No! How could I have lost him! I just ruined my only possible chance for information.

I tried going in the direction he had been walking, but there was no sign of him. After several minutes of walking in that direction, I gave up. I'd probably never see him again. But even so, as I was walking back home, I kept my senses on alert for anything that might have to do with the boy from my dream.

When I got home, I started asking myself questions, like, who was he? Why was he in New York? Am I going crazy? Sadly, I had the answers to none of them.

I didn't speak at all during dinner, which was actually pretty common, as I don't talk much. Sort of. So, my mom didn't ask me anything, thank goodness.

I wolfed down my food and chugged my water, then went into my room. I didn't want to keep to my thoughts, as they were crowded and full of questions, so I sketched some more. I focused all my attention on my drawing so that I didn't think too much.

When I stopped to think about what I would draw next, my thoughts slowly drifted to the boy in my dream. I just wanted to know what was going on. Subconsciously, my fingers corresponded with my thoughts, tapping in morse code, _What is going on, what is going on, what is going on. _

See, before I went to Goode, I had a friend in school named Kirstie, whose father was in the military, and had taught her morse code. She passed this on to me, but unfortunately, I was kicked out of that school, like every other school I've ever been to.

And before that, I had a friend who was deaf, and I spent a lot of time learning sign language. Even after I was expelled, I kept learning, and finally mastered it. That's what I meant by I know five languages. Spanish, Italian, English, Morse Code, and ASL. (American Sign Language.)

Finally I decided to get some sleep. I was already planning what I was going to do tomorrow, and I would need my beauty sleep. I slipped on some pajama pants, and climbed into bed.

When I awoke, I was drooling a little on my pillow. I wiped it off with my sleeve. I only drooled when I was sleeping soundly. It surprised me that I could sleep that well when my mind was so preoccupied.

I did my morning routine, but it was more like afternoon. I slept in on the weekends. I took a shower, and dressed in dark gray leggings, a lacey, black long-sleeved top, and a regular old pair of socks.

For some reason, I only really liked to go for walks before dinner, even on the weekends, so I had some time to kill before it was late enough to go out and not be questioned.

I slipped on my combat boots, grabbed Rex's leash, and called him over. He trotted over jauntily and I reached for his collar, clipped on the leash, and took him outside.

Rob had to "convince" the landlord to let him get the dog, A.K.A inviting him over and getting him drunk. For Rob, it was all a waste of time. But my mom and I really did like Rex.

Rex lifted his leg and peed on a tree, turning some snow on the ground yellow. When he was finished, a man walked by and Rex started barking, tugging at the leash to get to him. I had to hold on with all my might to restrain Rex.

When I went back inside, I still had about four and a half hours to kill. I decided I'd clean the place up, as Rob considered the floor his trashbin. It was really disgusting. There was trash everywhere. There was an old pizza box sitting on the coffee table, and I couldn't tell if it had come with the mushrooms or not.

Cleaning took up about two hours, but when I had finally had enough, there were still things strewn across the floor. I had some lunch in between, a little later than I'm used to, and made sure that I washed my hands very thoroughly before eating.

I spent the next hour composing songs on the piano. I made quite a few songs, and to be honest, I was quite proud of myself after I was finished.

I also surfed the channels on t.v, looking for something good to watch, but there wasn't anything that good, so I left it be, and Rob took the remote and started watching some really stupid t.v show, but I didn't say anything.

I spent the rest of the time painting. I made two paintings on a couple of my stretch canvases. I made a rooster, (I don't know why, I guess I just liked that it had a whole bunch of colors) and I also made the ocean, at sunset.

When the time finally came, I walked out of my room to the coat closet, and started getting ready. I slipped on my combat boots, grabbed my warm Abercrombie sweater, which I had to beg my mom to get, because it was it expensive.

I wrapped my blue scarf around my neck, but not so that it was blocking my face. I needed my eyes. I made sure I had my sapphire seahorse charm, which I kept in my pocket at all times. It was a gift from my father, who died out at sea when I wasn't even a week old.

My mother never really talked about my father, except to tell me that I looked and acted like him a lot. It was a pretty sore subject with my mom.

With the charm, I felt a sort of connection to my father. Like we knew each other and had a strong bond, but I knew that wasn't possible. My father was dead. End of story.

In the kitchen, my mom was searching the cabinets for what to make for dinner, and I saw her finally decide on a box of mac and cheese.

My mother turned around, and it was pretty obvious that I was getting ready to leave, so of course, she asked me where I was going.

"Out. I'll be back." I responded.

"Hey, you know what, why don't we go for a walk together? I want to talk to you." I didn't know what to say. My plan was to walk around the city trying to find the boy I had seen the night before. But I knew I couldn't just say no.

"Uh, sure." I said.

"Alright, just let me get ready."

My mom put the mac and cheese on the counter, then started getting ready. She was wearing denim jeans, which were the nicest pair of pants she owned, and a button up flannel shirt. She looked really pretty.

Once she was done wrapping up warm, mittens and all, we headed out. When we walked outside, we were met with an unwelcoming cold, though many other people were walking about as well.

As we walked, my mother was talking about things, about life, about her job, about how she wished to one day become a chef, and work at a five-star restaurant. Then she asked, "What about you, Mel? What do you want to do when you grow up?"

"I don't know. Probably not a chef, I'd burn down the building. Maybe a diver. I've always loved the water."

"You are your father's daughter." My mom said with a smile on her face, but her eyes looked sad. I didn't say anything.

As we walked by an alleyway, I glanced down and saw a group of teenage boys kicking and throwing stones at a black stray dog that looked like it had never gotten a decent meal in its life.

Before I could even think, I yelled, "Hey!" I couldn't stand animal abusers. They were selfish jerks.

They turned around and faced me and my mom. "Melody, dejar que sea, no hay nada que puedas hacer." My mom said. _Melody, leave it alone, there's nothing you can do_. The boys looked confused as my mom spoke.

I didn't answer. I walked right up to the awful situation. I ignored my mom, who was trying to keep me from getting myself in trouble, but I was a trouble magnet. There was no way I could ever stay away from it.

"Leave her alone." I said boldly, staring in turn at all three of the teenage boys.

"Oh, and what are you gonna do about it?" spoke the one in the middle, whose face looked distorted with his crooked nose. He was trying his best to intimidate me, but it wasn't working.

"You don't scare me." I said matter-of-factly.

"Oh no? Well maybe you should be." I got so mad that I felt my face burn so much I thought it was going on catch on fire. Out of nowhere, a huge snowdrift fell on top of them from the roof. They were engulfed in snow, but I knew something wasn't right. Because when that had happened, I felt something deep in my gut. Like I was the one who had made that happen.

"Melody!" My mother said, grabbing my wrist, "We need to go, _now_."

We ran down the street, my mom searching frantically for something. "Mom, what happened?" I said, worried. "Did I do that?"

My mom didn't answer. We ran all the way back to our apartment, and my mom grabbed the car keys from a dish on the counter.

We ran back out of the apartment building, and into my stepfather's Jeep. "Mom, answer me, what's going on?" I said as she floored it and we went speeding down the road, twisting and turning.

"They'll find you any minute. Then he'll find you. And things will get ugly." What the _heck _was my mother talking about! Wait, _he'll _find you. That's exactly what the boy in my dream had said.

We rode in silence, as I was busy thinking. My mom had a determined look on her face as she drove.

I was guessing this had to have something to do with the boy in my dream, but what? They had said the same thing about this guy finding me, but what guy? And why was it going to be bad? Were we being followed? I looked behind us, but there were no suspicious-looking people in tow.

I searched my mind for questions, but oddly, I had none. I had had so many questions eager to be answered before, but I found my mind blank.

About an hour and a half later, my mom stopped the car on this empty road. She grabbed me and squeezed me tight. "Honey, I need you to find Thalia's Pine. You need to go down into the valley. You'll be safe there. I love you."

"Wait, Mom, what about you? Can't you come?" I sounded like a five year old going to school for the first time.

"I can't enter the camp borders, I'm sorry honey, but you need to go."

"Wait, I have questions!" I exclaimed.

"They'll answer your questions, now you need to go on without me. Do you have your seahorse charm?" she asked.

"Yeah, of course I have it, but-"

"You need to go. Now. I love you."

I got out of the car, and stared through the window at my mom. Tears were streaming down her face, and I could start to feel tears trickling down mine as well. My mom turned the car around me, and drove off. I stood there watching until she was out of sight.

My mom had just abandoned me.

I started walking away, tears streaming down my face. Eventually, I realized that I had left the road and was in the woods. They were exactly like the woods in my dream. Oh no, I thought. If it was exactly like my dream, then where were the dogs?

To answer my question, I heard around four deep howls, ringing out in harmony.

And with that, I started to run.

AN: Please review! I would love to hear how you like the story so far and I welcome constructive criticism. Please let me know if you think I should continue!


	4. Chapter 4

Every part of it was exactly like my dream. I kept glancing over my shoulder to look at the things chasing me. Moonlight streamed through the tree leaves above. There was only one difference. It was real life.

I ran as fast as my legs could carry me. I needed to find that hill that I had been on before.

Snow started falling heavily. It layered the ground in a sheet of white, which glittered in the moonlight. My breath fogged in the air in front of me, as well as the dogs'. It was really nippy, and I wished I had worn mittens.

Once or twice I stumbled over a tree branch, but caught my footing quickly. If the dogs caught up to me, it would not be good.

As I ran, I thought. I wouldn't be so dumb as to stop, as I had in my dream, so I kept running. Fight or flight, baby. My only option was flight. There was no way I'd be able to go up against the things chasing after me.

Then I thought about my mom. How could she have just abandoned me like that? There was no way she could have known about the dogs, but still. She said that I was in danger, or something like that. How could she have just left me to die?

It might not have been entirely her fault. She said that she couldn't enter the camp borders, whatever that means. Was it possible that the place in my dream was a camp? I wasn't sure.

Before I knew it, I found myself at the bottom of the hill. The dogs were very close. I wouldn't be able to get up the hill in time without them getting me, so that only left me with one choice. Fight.

I broke off a large, sharp branch off of the nearest tree, and stripped off the twigs. It would have to do.

When the dogs came close to me, I surprised them by hurling myself towards them, and digging the branch into the gut of the nearest dog. Instead of falling to the ground, it crumbled to dust. I turned around and faced the other three.

Working on pure adrenaline and absolute craziness, I stabbed the branch into the next dog. The third one ran at me, but I twirled around and found it in front of me. Wrong move.

The fourth dog behind me was a bit smaller, thank the heavens, but it still hurt like crazy when it snuck up on me while my attention was focused on the other dog, and sank its fangs into my right arm. Pain shot through my arm all the way up to my shoulder. On impulse, I turned and sank the branch right in its heart. Yet again a heap of ashes lay to my side.

Now determined to kill every last thing that was trying to kill me, I wheeled around on the other one. I ran towards it, but before I could reach it, it disappeared. Simply vanished.

It didn't make any sense. I didn't know how it did that, but it was pretty obvious they weren't dogs, or even any kind of species known to man.

I dropped my branch, and cradled my bloody arm, starting up the hill. I got past the pine tree, and yet again saw the valley below. That was all that I saw before I saw black dots in front of my eyes, and drifted into unconsciousness, falling to the ground with a thud.

When I regained consciousness, I found myself in an unfamiliar place. I was laying down on a leather couch, facing a stone fireplace, my arm cleaned and bandaged. For some odd reason, grapevines bursting with bunches of red grapes were climbing up the walls. Masks were covering the walls, many different kinds, and I couldn't even name one type of them.

Then I noticed the stuffed leopard's head mounted above the fireplace. It seemed to be staring right at me. And then, it snarled. I nearly fell off the couch. That thing was alive! We stared at each other for a moment, but then a voice behind me drew my attention.

"Oh good, you're awake." it was a teenage boy, but not the same one as in my dream. He had blonde hair and bright blue eyes, and wore an orange t-shirt and khaki shorts, even though it was the middle of winter. He had a necklace with clay beads, each with a different picture on it.

I got up off of the couch quickly, and took a few steps back. My legs were a bit wobbly, but if I had to fight this person, I would.

"Whoa, take it easy. I'm not going to hurt you. In fact, I want to help you. Something took a bite out of your arm, after all. Here." he held out a cup with what looked like apple juice inside, which I hadn't notice he had been holding. I didn't take it. Instead, I said, "Where am I?"

"Well, you're in Camp Half-Blood." he retracted his outstretched hand with the cup. "It's a special place for kids like you and I."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked. I wasn't sure if that was meant to be an insult or not. The boy sighed.

"Look, all will be explained in time. I've got to go find Chiron and tell him you're awake. Drink this. It'll make you feel better." He handed me the cup, and this time I reached out a tentative hand and gingerly took it, like it was explosives or something. The boy turned and left the room.

"Right. Nothing about this is strange at all." I said to myself.

I sat back down on the couch, and drank the juice that the boy had given me, but it wasn't exactly juice. It was like liquid cinnamon buns, the kind my mom always used to make on special occasions. They were delicious.

I finished up drinking the liquid, and set the cup on a side table. I got up, and to my surprise, found that my legs were no longer wobbly. Instead, they were strong. Maybe that boy was trustworthy.

A few minutes later, the boy came back with a handicapped man in a wheelchair. He had brown hair, and was wearing a tweed jacket and had a blanket covering his legs. He wheeled over to me, and looked me up and down, as though he was inspecting me, which he probably was.

"Hmm, very interesting." he said after a minute.

"What?" I asked, but he completely ignored me and wheeled over to the boy who had given me the strange liquid.

"Bring her to the Hermes cabin, would you, Will?" the boy, who I guessed was Will, nodded his head and motioned for me to follow him. I reluctantly tagged along.

"Wait, what's your name?" asked Will.

"I'm Melody." something flickered across his face, like he knew me, yet he didn't. It was very strange, and didn't make me feel any more comfortable around him. We walked outside, onto a wrap-around porch. I was surprised to find that it was warm, and there was no snow covering the fields, or as far as I could see.

We walked around the big house, and walked down steps onto the ground in the back. I looked up at the sky, and the position of the sun told me it was around noon time, maybe a little earlier. When I stepped down, I could immediately see many things. A little to my right was a volleyball court, and past that was a little building, who knows what for. To my left was a river, the river I saw in my dream, and in the distance I could see the lake in the middle.

Past the river was the strawberry fields, and past that I could see three buildings. One was big, one was really big, and one was small. Yeah, I know, not really good at describing things, especially buildings. So I'm going to suck when I tell you about the cabins.

Right on the edge of the woods, just like in my dream, were eleven cabins, all arranged in a "u". Each one looked different, and the two at the end were larger than the rest.

We started left, towards the river, which was starting to seem like a creek, not a river. Yeah, it was a creek. The creek had a small wooden bridge going over it, and Will and I crossed over.

We started heading towards the cabins, and we passed people along the way. They were all wearing orange shirts like Will's that said "Camp Half-Blood" on it, with a pegasus silhouette under it, and underneath that small print that said, "Long Island Sound".

We headed towards a cabin that looked pretty normal, at least compared to the others. We walked inside.

"Melody, these are the Hermes campers. Hermes campers, Melody." he smiled. I could tell he did that a lot, but it just seemed like he was trying to break the tension that had sounded when we walked in.

"Regular or undetermined?" said a voice amongst many people, a lot of which looked alike with their impish features, pointy noses and ears.

I didn't know what he meant, but Will answered for me. "Undetermined." the whole cabin shrunk back and groaned.

One kid came forward. He had sandy blonde hair and brown eyes, and seemed to be no threat. He pointed to a corner, which had a simple sleeping bag, and said, "That's your spot." then he brushed past Will and I to the door and left.

"Alright, well, I'll let you get settled and whatnot." Will turned to me. "I'll be at the archery range." he exited the cabin, and ran off.

I didn't even know where the archery range was, so I knew I wouldn't be going to him anytime soon. I didn't want to just stand there like an idiot with a whole bunch of people staring at me, but thankfully the campers returned their business, and I, having none, decided to go for a walk to clear my head a bit.

It was a really nice day, but what confused me was why there wasn't snow on the ground. My mother had said they would answer my questions, but I didn't know who she was talking about, and I wish I did since I had a lot of questions.

I walked along the creek, thinking to myself. Everything had changed, in one night, and I didn't even know how. What was my life going to be like? Would I even see my mother again?

I continued walking until I got to the lake, where I stopped, took off my socks and shoes, and plunged my feet into the cool, refreshing water. The water always cleared my mind, and made it easier for me to think. It calmed me.

There wasn't much for me to do, as I didn't really know what was going on. I needed something to do, and the only way that was possible would be if someone answered my questions. Will said he would be at the archery range; maybe I could ask someone where that was.

I got up, dried off my feet, and put my socks and shoes back on. I started walking back towards the cabins, as there was bound to be a lot of people there who I could ask for the way to the archery range.

After about twenty minutes, nine of which spent by feeling stupid, I found the archery range. Will was there, bow in hand, talking to another boy in the same t-shirt and some black shorts, which I soon recognized to be the boy from my dream.

AN: I know, this one was kind of shorter than the others, but I had a sort of writer's block. I'll make the next one long!


	5. Chapter 5

All I could do was stare in awe and disbelief.

First New York, now this place? What was he, a stalker?

The boy turned around, as well as Will. All I could do was stare at the boy. I must have looked like an idiot, but I didn't care.

"Ah, here she is. Melody, I'd like you to meet Percy. Percy, this is Melody. We found her at the base of the pine tree."

"What happened to your arm?" Percy asked. It was the exact same voice as in my dream.

"Yeah, what did happen to your arm? I never did have time to really ask you about what happened." said Will, a quizzical look on his face.

I wasn't really eager to answer their questions, but I did so anyways. "Well, there were these big dog things, and one of them bit me. There was four of them, and I killed three, but the last one disappeared, it was really strange."

"Hellhounds." Percy said. "Did you say there was four?" I nodded my head. "Wow." he looked lost in his thoughts for a moment. "Who's your godly parent?" he finally asked.

"My what?" I said. I was so confused.

"It's undetermined." said Will. It was the same thing he had said to the kids in the cabin. The _Hermes _cabin. Hermes was the greek messenger god! But wait, he was a myth, wasn't he?

"Wait a second…" I said. I was still trying to figure it all out. I pointed to Will. "We went into the Hermes's cabin, he's a greek god. Then you" I pointed at Percy "asked me who my godly parent was. I'm a bit confused here."

"Relax, all will be explained in time." said Percy.

"I don't have _time_!" I raised my voice. I immediately felt guilty. They were only trying to help. I looked down at my hands. "I'm sorry."

"Hey, it's alright. It's always scary on your first day." I studied Percy's face. He looked exactly like he had in my dream, windswept black hair, sea-green eyes, we could be siblings.

"Hey, why don't I show you around. I'm sure you've got a lot of questions and there's some people I'd like you to meet. Come on." he started walking away, and I followed.

We walked around while I asked questions and he answered them. A lot of my questions were about hellhounds, which I found out could shadow-travel, and that was what the fourth one had done.

I had learned about Greek mythology in school, but I still asked questions about it. Percy explained what they did at Camp Half-Blood, and their weekly game of capture the flag. He didn't give me much details, he just said that it wasn't one of your normal games of capture the flag.

He told me about all the cabins, and which gods they were for. He showed me his cabin, the Poseidon cabin, number three. It was made of stone, and had seashells lining the outer walls. There was a trident over the door, as well.

"Your dad's Poseidon?" I asked. "Didn't he and his brothers make some kind of pact?"

He rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, yeah, but both Zeus and Poseidon broke it. Zeus with my friend, Thalia, and Poseidon with me."

"Hm."

By then it was only about one o'clock. Time was going by really slowly. As we were walking by the arts and crafts building that I had seen before past the volleyball courts, I decided to confront him about my dream. Maybe he could help me out.

"Percy?"

"Yeah?" he stopped walking and looked at me.

"A couple nights ago, I had this dream. And in my dream, I was being chased by hellhounds. But instead of fighting them or continue running, I stopped, and they must have shadow-traveled, because they were nowhere to be found. Then the image-well, changed."

"What did it change to?" Percy asked. He looked like he was used to hearing about-or maybe even having-such strange dreams.

"Well, I was standing by the pine tree, overlooking the valley, when I heard a voice. I turned around, and you were there." Even though I had never seen him in my life before that dream, it was still really awkward telling him about it.

"Me?" he asked, bewildered. "What did I say?"

"You said that I had to hurry, before _he _found out. I didn't know what it meant, but then nearly the same thing happened to me with the hellhounds. Do you have any idea what it means?"

"Well, demigods have dreams a lot about things to come, or warnings. So it's very, very common to get those kinds of dreams a lot, but I don't know who _he _is."

We were both silent for a few moments, but Percy broke the silence by saying, "Well, now that you're here, and know you're a demigod and all that, you might as well start training. You never know what might be coming after you."

I nodded. Percy had told me a lot of things about being a demigod. About how your smell strengthened when you found out, about how demigods couldn't use phones, because it was like sending up a flare to monsters, saying, "Hey, I'm right here! Come eat me!"

I was still a bit skeptical of the idea of my father being a greek god, but so much had happened in the past few days, I should of seen something even crazier coming.

Percy told me that before we went to the arena to start practicing, I needed a weapon first. By the arena, there was a small shed called the armory.

The walls were covered with all kinds of weapons. Spears, swords, battle axes, daggers. I whistled. "Wow, weapons galore." I said.

Percy rummaged through weapons, looking for one that he thought might be the best fit for me. Finally he landed on a sword, and handed it to me. I took it with my right hand, and winced when I felt pressure on my bite wound.

"Thank goodness I'm left handed." I say.

The blade was about three feet long, silver, but heavy. It didn't feel right in my hand.

"No." said Percy. I silently agreed.

While Percy was yet again rummaging through the weapons, I asked him, "What do you use?"

Percy gave me an easygoing smile, and pulled a pen out of his pocket. It was the same pen that he had been twirling around with his fingers in my dream. This time I noticed an inscription on it. "_Anaklusmos. _Riptide." I said.

"How did you know?" Percy asked. I shrugged.

He uncapped his pen, and it grew to a three foot long bronze sword. "Whoa." I said. "Where'd you get that?" I asked.

"It was a gift from my father." he replied. "Whenever I lose it, it returns to my pocket moments later."

"Awesome! The only thing my father left me was this sapphire seahorse charm. Sapphire's my birthstone." I reached down and grabbed the charm from my boot, where I had put it earlier. One of the stones was loose. "Hm, that's weird."

I played with the stone, and pressed down on it. Then, it started morphing into a sword, just like Percy's pen. "Whoa!" it grew to three feet. It was the same color of Percy's sword, and had a sapphire in the middle of the sword guard. I pressed down on that, and it shrunk back to a seahorse charm.

"Well, that was unexpected." I said.

"Well, I guess we've found your weapon. Let's go."

We headed to the arena, where Percy would start teaching me sword fighting, and see if I had any potential. I wasn't so sure about how well I would do, but I had never fought with a sword before, so hopefully I would get better and better as I practiced.

"Have you ever used any kind of weapon before?" Percy asked as we were walking.

"Well, I had archery in seventh grade gym." I replied. "Nothing other than that, except my fists. And feet. And knees. Let's just say various parts of my body."

Percy smiled.

When we got to the arena, there were campers there, wearing armor and fighting each other. I was astounded at how graceful some of their moves were, and their somewhat-of-an-ability to predict their opponents next moves.

We took a spot near the center of the arena, Percy gave me a few pointers, and we started. We started out slow, since I was very new to sword fighting, not to mention being a demigod. He kept on talking to me as we fought, and I listened intently.

He showed me strikes and parries, slashes and stabs. I was liking my new sword. It balanced well. While fighting, I noticed an inscription on the sword in Greek. _τσουνάμι_, or, _Tsunami_.

I wished I had worn sneakers, because my combat boots weren't exactly the best for sword fighting. My sleeves were rolled up, revealing my bandage, as they had been all day. I couldn't complain too much though, because it was on my right arm, and I'm left-handed.

We continued practicing until I started to tire out. It was only my first practice, so Percy didn't want to push me too far, which I was thankful for. While I was catching my breath, something out of the corner of my eye caught my attention. I turned.

At first sight it looked like a man on horseback, but I distinguished the shape, and found that that was not what it was. The man, in fact, was _part _of the horse. I was looking at a centaur.

The horse half was a white stallion, and the top half was the guy in the motorized wheelchair I had seen inside the house. I think his name was Chiron. _Chiron_. The bajillion year-old trainer of greek heroes.

"Uh, Percy? Am I seeing what I think I'm seeing?" he followed my gaze, and stifled a laugh.

"Yes, yes you are. That's Chiron, the camp activities director."

"Uh, if I'm correct, he's, like, really old?" this time he actually laughed.

"He's around as long as he is needed to, you know, train heroes and stuff."

"Interesting." I stared. I knew it wasn't very polite to stare, so I turned away. "Why don't we train some more."

"You sure?" Percy asked.

"Yeah, I'm sure." We went back to training. I was really liking my new sword, as well. It was perfect for the way I did things.

We practice for a little while longer, and I was doing pretty good if I do say so myself. Percy was pretty impressed as well. But it all ended when another camper came over.

A camper that had been slashing at a dummy in the corner with a look of pure hatred on her face came strolling over. She was the biggest girl I had ever seen. She had dirty blonde hair which was topped off with a red bandana to keep it out of her face. She did not look friendly.

She was much taller than me, and I felt tiny by her. Next to me, Percy spoke. "Clarisse, go away. We're training."

The girl, Clarisse, didn't seem to care. "If you're so 'good', as Percy says you are, why don't you go up against me, Newbie?"

"Clarisse, I'm warning you." Percy said boldly.

"No, it's okay, Percy." I turned to Clarisse and nodded.

"Melody, you don't know what you're up against. She'll crush you like a bug."

"Oh, I had no idea. Please, it's not like I'm so oblivious to her big muscles." I said.

"Then why are you going up against her, even if you know the danger?"

"Because," I said, "I'm smaller and swifter." Clarisse was in the center waiting for me, and I ended the conversation with Percy, and approached Clarisse. A lot of the campers had seen her challenge me, and a lot of them actually looked scared. There were quite a few big, burly campers, who were snickering and looking our way.

Clarisse smiled evilly. She raised her sword. It was silver and had a leather grip. Even though she looked like she was a master killing-machine, I could barely tell that the sword might not be her specialty.

She started circling like an eagle would circle their prey from above. I followed her movements. I wasn't going to be the first one to make a move, so I waited. She seemed like the kind of person for action, so she was probably going to strike first anyway.

She slashed at me. I barely had time to move away before she striked again. I slashed at her, but she easily parried my blow. She pushed Tsunami away with her sword. Luckily I had time to lift my sword in front of me before she tried to slash at me. Or swords clashed together and sent sparks flying.

Everyone in the crowd was watching intently, as well as the centaur Chiron. I glanced at the crowd, but for a split second too long. Clarisse slashed her sword at me, and cut me across the cheek. I yelled out in pain. I could feel warm blood cascading down my face.

But that cry of pain quickly changed into a cry of anger. The wind around us started to pick up, and the sky above went dark. The wind lifted me into the air, and I felt a tugging sensation in my gut. I stared down at all the shocked faces in the crowd. There were many people gathered, watching the show.

Out of literally nowhere, and giant wave engulfed Clarisse and lifted her up into the sky as well, leaving her flailing around, trying to get down. I could feel my strength draining me, and belatedly I realized that I was the one doing that. _Me_.

Below me, I barely heard Percy's voice over the sound of waves in my ears. "Stop! Stop!"

I calmed myself down, and I was gently descended to the ground. Clarisse, however, did not have such a graceful fall.

She fell to the ground, screaming and flailing. She landed on the ground with a big thud and a loud _crack_! She had landed on her arm.

As other big campers surged forward to help Clarisse, Percy made his way through the crowd to get to where I was, kneeling on the ground, feeling drained of my being. I turned away. I felt ashamed, ashamed that I had hurt someone like that. Sure I had gotten in many fights and hurt many jerks along the way, but not like that.

The crowd suddenly hushed. A light shone in front of me, which must've meant that there was an intense light behind me. I was curious as the see why everyone was so quiet, so I turned my head to look at the source.

And there, standing right in front of me, was a god.


	6. Chapter 6

He was, to say the least, very godly.

I know, who would've thought, right?

I mean, he was only the god of the seas, standing right in front of me.

I could tell by his tan skin, black hair, his clothes, and, of course, his giant green trident. He wore a dark blue shirt dotted with palm trees, as well as khaki shorts and sandals. He was pretty much right out of my textbook.

I was looking at Poseidon.

We looked a lot alike, the three of us, as in me, Percy, and Poseidon.

The whole crowd bowed. I was already on my knees, but I didn't make any kind of movement. I just sat there and stared.

Once everyone stood up, Percy said, "Dad? What are you doing here?"

"Well, I was watching from the throne room, and after that little stunt, I decided that I couldn't hide it any longer."

"Hide what?" said a voice behind me. I turned. Apparently Chiron had come over, because he was standing right behind me.

"Well, I suggest you all be ready for a storm, because my brother is not going to be happy about this."

"Dad." Percy said.

"Right, right, to the point. Melody is… my… daughter." there was a collective gasp. A lot of people started talking at once. All I could do was sit and stare. I knew it had come as a shock for everyone, but imagine how I must have felt!

"Why don't I make this official." he said softly. He raised his hand, and above my head, was a glowing green trident.

"Wait, Dad, what about the pact? I mean, I…" Percy managed. His mouth was open in astonishment.

"Yes, I understand my mistake, and-"

I mustered up the courage to interrupt him. "Mistake?" I was up on my feet then, and I stared straight into Poseidon's sea-green eyes. "Is that all I am? A mistake?" tears were welling in my eyes, but I wouldn't let them escape.

"Melody, that's not-"

"What you meant? No, no, that's _exactly _what you meant. Fine, I get it, I'm a mistake. I've known that my whole life." Everyone was staring at me, but I didn't care. "A life. A soul, a _human being_. That you abandoned." I pointed right at Poseidon.

I understood that my words had an impact, but I had the right to be mad at him. He had abandoned me and my mother. I turned, and ran from the arena.

As I ran, I let the tears run down my face. I had thought being claimed was something magical. Not… not… I didn't even have the words to explain it. It was all just a huge disaster.

I ran around the arena, and into the woods behind it. I had figured that if I wanted to be alone, that would be the place to go.

I had pressed the sapphire on Tsunami and put the charm in my boot when I was in the arena, and I could feel it pressing against the bottom of my ankle as I ran.

I ran along another creek, not knowing where I was going or what I was even going to do when I got there. Think things over, I guess, which sometimes isn't a good thing.

I ran until I was out of breath, and I stopped and plopped down onto the ground by the creek. More things made sense after that. Me being a demigod explained all the strange things that had happened and got me kicked out of a lot of schools. Being a daughter of Poseidon explained why water had cleared my mind, and also that stunt I pulled with the snow. Snow is made of water, so it makes sense.

After all that realization came and passed, I was angry. I was so angry I wanted to smack Poseidon across the face. He had abandoned his family. I wasn't even a week old when he supposedly "died". Then he just shows up and calls me a mistake! He doesn't even know me! He doesn't deserve to know me. He lost that right when he abandoned me.

I cupped water from the water in my hands from the creek and splashed it on my face. I got my leggings wet, but I didn't care. My face immediately felt better. I reached up a tentative finger and felt my cheek. The scratch that Clarisse had given me was gone.

So water healed me! It explained why my cuts healed faster when I soaked them in water. I guess it was just stronger, now that I knew who I was, like my smell.

I don't know how long I sat there, but it felt like only a few minutes before Percy came walking up beside me.

"Hey. You alright?" he asked.

"I guess. It just wasn't really what I had expected, you know. How's it going back there? Chaotic?"

"Oh yeah, especially Annabeth. She's flipping out."

"Who's Annabeth?" I asked.

"Oh! That's right. I never got to introduce you two. She's a friend of mine." Just the tone of his voice told me that that might not have been the whole truth.

"Who's her godly parent?"

"Athena." Percy replied.

We were in silence for a moment before he said, "So, I guess we're siblings."

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Ok, look, Dad asked me to come get you, and before you say no, hear me out. There's something really important he needs to tell all of us, and he won't unless you're there. He says you have a right to know as much as everyone."

"Dang right I do." I thought for a moment, then said, "Alright, I'll come."

We walked back to the arena where a lot of yelling and chaos awaited us. Apparently, all the gods had come down. Let's just say I wasn't having the best day.

With one look at all of them, I could tell who they were. Greek mythology was one of my favorite classes.

"YOU!" a voice thundered. One of the gods, Zeus, as a matter of fact, was pointing a finger at me. He was as red as a tomato in the face. Everyone went quiet and stared. I was frightened. Zeus was the king of the gods, and he didn't seem very happy with me.

"BROTHER!" Poseidon yelled. He walked to Zeus's side. "Calm down. There's something I need to tell all of you." Zeus looked even angrier at that, but he must have been curious to hear what Poseidon had to stay, because he put down his finger and looked at his brother.

"Melody isn't… normal. I don't know how, but I will not rest until I found out why…"

"Why what?! Get to the point already!" Zeus thundered. Sorry, bad pun.

"Melody has powers from all of us." he said, aimed at all the gods and goddesses.

"What… what do you mean?" Zeus asked, bewildered.

"Melody, try to summon lightning."

"What?! I can't do that! I'm your daughter, not Zeus's!" I yelled.

"Melody," Poseidon said, "what you did with the wind. That was from Zeus. I don't know why, but I'm determined to find out, why you have all these powers. All I know is that you may be the most powerful demigod alive. Go on, try and summon lightning."

All the gods looked very taken aback, especially Zeus. I focused my mind on the skies above, imagined lightning coming down and striking the ground, but nothing happened.

"Try it again." Poseidon said. This time, lightning struck the ground right in front of me, scorching the ground. I backed up quickly. "What the!..."

"PREPOSTEROUS!" Zeus yelled. Before anyone could say anything or stop him, Zeus's lightning bolt came charging at me.

I screamed. I threw my hands up in front of my face and squeezed my eyes shut, but nothing came. I didn't feel anything, except maybe a small impact on my power. There were yells. I opened my eyes, and saw that Zeus had tried to kill me, but I had a forcefield. A blue aura of power surrounded me, protected me, but I was weakening. I could feel the strength and power draining from me. I lowered my arms.

Zeus stared at me. "How…?" He faltered. Everyone stared at me in shock. I was very weak, and I could feel my consciousness slipping away. All the gods started yelling at each other, arguing about me, and that was all that I could see before I fell to the ground, unconscious.

AN: I know this one wasn't as good as the other ones, but it was a little harder to write because of all the things going on. But I hope you liked it!


	7. Chapter 7

I woke up to find myself in the big house's living room- again.

I was laying on the same leather couch, and, as far as I could tell, alone.

Then the events of the day flashed through my mind. I had powers from all the gods. I had _not _been expecting that.

Wow. I really needed to get that whole blacking-out thing under control.

Percy walked into the room, carrying the same juice stuff that Will had given me. He handed it to me, and this time, I took it without a second thought.

"How're you doing?" he asked. "Summoning lightning took a lot of energy from you."

"I'm fine. You know, except for all this stuff going on. It's pretty much just like, "_Hey, I forgot to mention, you're a demigod, sorry, must have just slipped my mind. And, not only are you a demigod, but you're the most powerful one in the world, and you shouldn't even be alive!_" I guess I just need some time."

"Don't we all." said Percy.

I raised an eyebrow, but I didn't say anything, and neither did he.

"I can't believe Zeus just attacked you like that out of nowhere." Percy said suddenly. "I mean, I know he's angry and all, but if it hadn't of been for your forcefield you would be dead!"

"Percy, relax. I'm fine, really. And hopefully Poseidon's getting him under control." I said.

We sat in silence while I drank my juice/cinnamon bun stuff. I didn't even know what it was called, so I asked Percy.

"That's nectar." he replied. "It's a godly drink that heals you, but if you drink too much or are a mortal, it'll incinerate you."

"Oh, that sounds… nice." I said. He laughed.

"Hey, why'd you fight Clarisse? I know she challenged you and all, but you didn't have to." said Percy curiously.

"I've dealt with plenty of people like her. Bullies, I mean. Even if she is bigger and stronger, I actually know a bit about the human body and its weakest points, as well as its most vulnerable."

"Whoa. You'll have to teach me sometime!"

I studied him. "Maybe." I said, smiling. I know we had only just met, and I didn't know a thing about him, but I felt that we would be close siblings, good friends.

"How long was I out?" I asked. I honestly didn't know.

"You slept through the night. It's around eight." he said. "That little... _stunt _really tired you out."

"No kidding." I said. I didn't like the fact that I had slept that long, but what's done is done.

Just then a girl came through the door. She looked to be around Percy's age, with blonde hair and stormy gray eyes. She cast a glance at me, then turned to Percy. "You're needed outside, Seaweed Brain. The gods are still out there, arguing. Chiron's trying to talk some sense into them, but you should talk to your father."

Percy turned to me, with a teensie look of worry on his face. "Go," I said, "I'll be fine."

He rose, and followed the blonde girl out of the house. Something told me that that was Annabeth. She actually looked a lot like my neighbor Sophia, with her blonde hair and gray eyes. I wondered what that was all about.

Not wanting to feel useless, I got up and walked outside. The sun was shining, making the fields look greener than ever. There were quite a few demigods running about, but I guessed that some were still with the gods or something.

I looked over to the strawberry fields, and what I saw made me rub my eyes and look again. There were people over there, playing reed pipes and dancing around, but they weren't normal. From where I was standing, I saw _goat legs_.

Okay, so not only did that camp have half gods and half horses, (if you could call centaurs half horses) correction: _a_ half horse, but there were half goats. That just made so much sense.

When I actually started to think about it, I realized something. They weren't just half goats, they were satyrs. The nature spirits and protectors, from what I had learned in class, anyway.

I decided to head down to the arena, because that's probably where a lot of people were. Gathering up my courage, I started walking to the arena.

When I got there, there was actually quite a few people there, but definitely not as much as the day before. They had probably started going back to their regular camp routines, doing whatever demigods do at demigod summer camps.

The gods were still there, of course. Zeus still looked pretty mad, but not as mad as before. I really hoped this meant that he wasn't going to try to kill me this time. You know, not burn me to a crisp. That'd be great.

There were some demigods practicing fighting with various weapons, but sometimes people would get in their way, nearly getting sliced to bits in the process. In one of the corners, a girl and a boy were practicing sword fighting.

The boy looked a lot like Annabeth, with blonde hair and gray eyes. He must have been an Athena camper. There was no mistaking those stormy eyes that ran in the family.

Ran in the family… hmmm. Something didn't seem right. Something seemed missing. Like a piece of information, something I needed to know. It would have to wait, because the gods turned and found me standing there, probably looking like an idiot.

Taking a deep breath, I strode toward them.

Percy was talking to our father, (it's weird saying _our_) and there were a few gods/goddesses fighting amongst themselves. They turned away from their squabbling to look at me when I joined them.

Zeus strode forward, past all the others, with an air of power and leadership. He eyed me like I was a bomb about to go off any minute. Maybe I was.

He stared at me for a few moments before saying, "You should be ashamed of yourself. What do you have to say?"

"Well, what I have to say is that it's _not my freaking fault that I exist!_" I yelled.

"Hey!" Zeus snapped. "Watch your tone with me, young lady. You don't want to know what I am capable of when I am angry." Considering he tried to kill me the last time he got angry, I didn't say anything after that, though I glared at him.

By then Percy and Poseidon came over, Percy watching me to make sure I was okay, and Poseidon watching Zeus, looking like he was ready to spring into action if his brother tried to kill me again.

I was still mad at Poseidon, though. It wasn't like I was just going to forget everything and become Daddy's little girl. No, nuh-uh, not me.

Watching Zeus cautiously, Percy walked over to me, and lightly took a hold of my arm. "Come here," he said, "I want to show you something." The tip of his mouth quirked a little. I wondered what he was going to show me.

We walked out of the arena, still morning, obviously, because I hadn't been in there very long at all. We walked past the armory, where I discovered that my seahorse charm doubled as a sword called Tsunami.

There was a building ahead of us, with a wide walkway down the middle. I couldn't see much in it, but it looked like half-doors lined the sides. If Percy hadn't of asked me if I like horses, I wouldn't have known what it was until we got closer.

"I absolutely _love _horses. But I'm not one of those horse-crazy girls. Well, maybe a little." I smiled, and so did Percy. Truth be told, I really loved horses. They were my favorite animal, actually. I'd only ridden a couple of times in my life, but I had instantly fallen in love when a mare named Stardust nuzzled me.

"Well, if you love horses so much, then you're going to love what we have." I didn't know what he meant by that, but once we were inside and I gazed at the horses in the stalls, I knew what was so special about them. _They had wings_.

They were pegasi.

"Oh my God." I muttered.

"Oh my _gods_, is right." Percy said, emphasizing the _s_. I made a mental note to remember to add an _s _to God when something like this happened and I barely had any words.

I walked over to a pitch-black stallion, and held out my hand for him to sniff. And he did. His whiskers tickled against my palm. I reached up and scratched him behind the ears, how horses like. It was most likely the same with pegasi as well.

_I like her. _Startled, I looked around. There was no one there except for Percy and I, along with the pegasi. And yes, I know, that rhymed. Percy chuckled. "What?" I asked. Was that him?

Percy eyed the pegasus. Things clicked together in my mind. Poseidon was the lord of horses, he created them. I had a connection with them. _I could understand them_. "That was you?" I asked the pegasus. He looked confused.

_Uh, Boss? _I heard the voice again, but I realized it was in my head. _What's she going on about?_

"I heard you!" I exclaimed. "That is _so cool!_"

_Wait, you can hear me? Uh, Boss, what's going on?_

"Melody here, is also a child of Poseidon. She's my sister." Percy said. The horse backed up a few steps, looking alarmed.

_But the oath! _I heard in my head.

"Yeah, about that, I guess he broke it more than once. Melody's only about, what? A year younger than me?" Percy said. "Don't worry, Blackjack. You can trust her." Blackjack walked back over to me a little slowly and stuck his nose out. I petted his soft, velvety snout.

So, cool, I could talk to horses. And not just horses, but pegasi.

"Want to go riding?" Percy asked, smiling.

A wide grin spread on my face. "Of course I do!"

When we were all saddled up, (or, when _I _was all saddled up, Percy rode Blackjack bareback) Percy asked me, "Have you ever ridden before?"

"Only a couple times when I was little. But, if it helps any, the instructor told me I was a natural."

"Oh really?!" He said. "Well let's see how well you do on a flying horse!"

We led our pegasi out of the stable, and hoisted ourselves up onto them. I was careful to avoid the wings of the palomino stallion that I was riding. They were beautiful, the same color of his coat with white along the bottom edge. They were amazing.

We walked around a little before I was ready to try flying. My heart was pumping. I'd never even been in a plane, let alone out in the open on a _flying horse_.

"Don't worry," Percy said, with a huge smile on his face, "you're a _natural_." God-sorry, gods, he was never going to let me live that down. It was still pretty funny, though, and I laughed, getting a laugh out of him as well.

And only a moment later, we were up in the sky, soaring, wind blowing through our hair, and I felt free.


	8. Chapter 8

When we were flying, it felt like nothing else mattered.

Until I thought about my mother.

A pang of guilt hit me. I was having so much fun, while my mother was stuck at home with Rob. Had any monsters found her?! What if my scent was still there, and they found it?! It was probably covered up by Rob's stench, though.

I felt sick to my stomach, and instantly the flying was not fun at all. I told the pegasus to land through my awesome horse-telepathy.

When we landed, I took my feet out of the stirrups of one of the special saddles they had that fit the pegasi without interfering with their wings, and slid down to the ground. My legs shook a little when I landed.

Beside me, Blackjack's heavy footfalls sounded as he skidded to a stop with Percy on his back. He shook out his wings then folded them against his body. Pegasi are so cool.

Percy's hair was tousled and windswept. I'm sure my hair was a bit messy, too. He grinned. "Have fun?"

I didn't want to worry him with anything, so I gave him a smile and nodded. I patted my pegasus' neck. It was warm. I took his reins and led him over to his stall to untack him and let him cool off. Behind me, Percy and Blackjack followed me and my pegasus into the barn.

After we got the pegasi all settled, Percy decided I should probably get set up in cabin three. While we headed back to the cabins, my thoughts drifted back to my mother. I had only been there a couple days, but I missed her.

I only half-remembered the way to cabin three. When I first got here Percy had given me a tour, and we visited the Poseidon cabin. What was that, the day before yesterday? Wow. Sometimes time goes by fast, and other times it's like an overweight snail. Okay, maybe not the best comparison, but you get the gist.

I may not have remembered how to get to it, because hey, it was only my third day, but I did remember what it looked like. Stone, with seashells lining the walls, and a trident over the door. Inside, though, it was kind of… well, boring.

There were three beds, two neatly made, and another a little bit messy. I guessed that was where Percy slept. Then wait. If it was only me and Percy… then who was the third one for?

I think Percy noticed my confusion, because he looked at me and said, "That's Tyson's. He's our half-brother. He's down in Dad's palace, in the forge, making weapons. I iris-messaged him yesterday, and told him what was going on. He said he wanted to come up, so I figure he'll be here any time now."

Okay. Another child of Poseidon?! Jeez Poseidon, rule-breaker much?

I looked over to my bed. On it was a folded orange shirt and jeans. I walked over and picked up the shirt, unfolding it and looking at the front. It was a Camp Half-Blood t-shirt. Good. I needed to change. I'd been wearing the same clothes for a couple of days.

Percy jerked his thumb back towards the door. "I'll let you get changed." he said, walking out the door. Once it was shut I took off my lacy black top and slipped on my new shirt. It fit perfectly. So did the jeans, and they were skinny at the bottom, allowing me to easily slip into my combat boots again. Not knowing what to do with my dirty clothes, I folded them and left on the bed, then walked outside to join Percy.

Even though I had new clothes, I didn't feel fresh. I seriously needed a shower. I promised myself I'd do it that afternoon, or evening, or whenever I wasn't doing anything.

Just then a conch horn sounded. "Lunchtime," Percy said, "let's go."

We headed up around the cabins to the mess hall, where meals are held. There were eleven tables, one for each cabin. Percy led me to the Poseidon table. We were the only ones there, obviously, but it felt full.

Satyrs, half-bloods, and camp directors milled about the dining pavilion, but soon everyone was seated, and wood nymphs served food. I got a regular old cheeseburger and fries. Across from me, Percy had a slice of cheese pizza. Then, for some reason, he looked at his goblet and said, "Blue coke." Then, to my amazement, it filled with an unnaturally blue coke.

"Whoa." I said. That was the only thing I could really manage. I was about to pick up my cheeseburger when everyone started getting up out of their seats and heading over to a fire, then scraping a small portion of their food into it.

"Come on." Percy said.

"What's that for?" I asked.

"It's an offering for the gods. They like the smell, apparently."

We headed over to the fire where people were still scraping food off their plates. I dumped a few of my fries into the flames. Then Percy and I returned to our seats. I said to my goblet, "Root beer." It immediately filled with the soda, and I picked it up and took a sip. It was good.

I looked around the dining pavillion. Everyone was laughing and eating and having a good time with the people at their tables. The pavillion was framed by Greek columns, which had torches blazing on them. The hill that the mess hall was on overlooked the sea, which was sparkling under the sun. It really was beautiful.

At one table, a man who looked to me about thirty with black hair and… purple eyes, was sipping from a goblet, surrounded by wood nymphs. He was probably some kind of camp director. He was wearing a purple shirt with weird designs on it and shorts, along with flip flops. I wondered who he was.

So, you probably know what I did next. Yep, that's right. I asked Percy.

"That's Mr. D, the camp director."

"Mr. D… Wait! Dionysus?!" I asked.

Percy smiled. "Yep."

The room in the house made sense now. Dionysus was the god of grapes and wine, so that explained the grapes growing all over the walls in the house. And the masks… he was also the god of theatre! It made so much sense. But wait. Why was he here, at Camp Half-Blood?

So, of course, I asked Percy.

"He was sent here as a punishment for chasing an off-limits wood nymph. He's got another… what? Hundred years here? I forget."

"Wow. Cruel punishment. Especially with you around." I said, smiling.

"Hey! I'm not that bad! Though he does hate me…" Percy seemed to question this. I gave a little laugh.

Once lunch was finished, we headed to the arena to do some more sword fighting. (After putting on some armor from the armory.) I was getting pretty good at it, even though I had only practiced a couple of times. I was excited to start again. But the excitement drained away when we got there and saw Clarisse, with her arm in a sling yet still beating her opponent.

When she saw me, she looked disgusted. Right then and there I wanted to march right up to her and remind her of what I can do. I restrained myself, though. I didn't want any trouble to surface. Especially not with her.

I turned away and faced Percy. He was wearing a set of golden armor, like me. Percy had Riptide out, and I took Tsunami out of my pocket and clicked the loose charm. Immediately it elongated into a three foot celestial bronze sword. Percy told me about the different kinds of material used for making swords. Celestial bronze, imperial gold, and even obsidian. There are lots of others too, but I won't go into that right now.

We practiced for a good hour and a half before we stopped. Our faces were beaded with sweat and we were both a little thirsty. We didn't really have a schedule, so I asked Percy to show me to the bathrooms so I could shower.

When I was done showering and was dressed, I met up with Percy at the lake. He had had to go take care of something, so we agreed that the lake was a good meeting spot, seeing as our father is Poseidon.

When I got there, Percy was sitting on the ground by the water cross-legged, a look of concentration on his face. Just then a big blob of water came out of the lake, shifted and contorted, then splashed back into the water.

I walked up beside Percy and sat down next to him. "You wanna go swimming?" He grinned.

I looked down at my clothes. "But-" he cut me off by quickly standing up and jumping into the water, splashing me.

"The water's refreshing!" he said. He swam over and hoisted himself onto the ground. He was completely dry.

"Um, how-" he cut me off again.

"How am I dry?" I nodded. "Just another quirk of being a Poseidon kid. I can will myself to stay dry. Go on, you try it."

"Are you sure-" he cut me off yet again by pushing me into the lake. I surfaced, spitting water out of my mouth. "What was that for?!" I splashed water at him, and he put his hands in front of him, laughing. I started laughing too, then got back out of the water.

And I was dry.

"See?" Percy said. "If you don't want to get wet, you don't have to." He smiled. I was still looking at my clothes in amazement. My hair was still a little wet from the shower, but other than that I was completely dry.

Then, the water started to ripple, and they became bigger and bigger until the whole lake was shaking. Percy and I got to our feet. Out of the water rose a figure. It started to take shape as Poseidon, holding his trident.

"Dad?" Percy said. Everyone around us had been on alert, pulling out swords, assuming battle stance. They settled when they saw it was Poseidon, but they continued to watch the scene curiously.

"Listen, Melody, I don't have much time." He looked around as if monsters were going to start popping out of nowhere. And, judging by some of the things Percy has told me, that could probably happen.

"Look, there's something going on in Olympus." He was whispering to us really quietly and rushed.

"What do you mean, 'something going on in Olympus'?" I asked. He was kind of starting to creep me out, and I didn't fully trust him either.

"There are some suspicions up in Olympus that there's an intruder, a fraud. I need you to go to the oracle and-" he was cut off by a powerful voice that rang over the camp. "POSEIDON!" It was Zeus's voice, no doubt about it. "I got to go," Poseidon said, "but Melody." He looked into my eyes. "You're the only one who can do this."

"Do what!" I said, raising my voice.

"Save the world." he said, and just like that, he was gone.

AN: I'm so so so so so sorry for not updating in a while, but I had a bad writer's block. But chapter 8 is finally done! I hope you enjoyed!


	9. Chapter 9

"¿Qué diablos está pasando...?" I said, meaning: _What the heck is going on…?_

"What?" Percy said, making me remember that I was not talking to my mother, I was talking to my _brother_. From another mother. Okay, I should stop with the bad jokes. "Did you just speak Spanish?" He was still staring at the lake as if willing himself to wake up from a bad dream.

"Yeah, my grandmother was Spanish and her husband was Italian, so I know both those languages. I also have a lot of American in my blood, too. My family tree is a little weird. I also know sign language and morse code."

Percy looked at me, raising an eyebrow. "Well if I ever find myself in a situation where someone can't hear me and someone does not speak my language, I'll give you a call." He was sarcastic, obviously, but I didn't find it very amusing.

"Can we just focus on the important stuff here? My father, who's a bajillion year-old god of the sea, just magically came out of a lake and told me I have to save the world. Focus, Percy, focus." I said.

We didn't have time to focus, though, because just then a girl came jogging up to us. She had wavy, light brown hair and blue eyes. She was a little shorter than me, and I was almost as tall as Percy. If we were a normal family, I would've enjoyed that very much.

Anyway, she came up to us, looking worried and confused. She probably saw what had happened. To prove me right, she asked, "What just happened? Was that Poseidon?!" She had an urgency in her voice, and luckily Percy answered quickly.

"Yeah, but uh, listen, we've got to go-" I cut him off.

"Wait, who are you?" I asked the girl. She looked to be about the same age as me: fourteen.

"I'm Riley." she answered. "Daughter of Apollo."

Wow. Now that I come to think about, she was only the third demigod I had officially met since I arrived. "I'm Melody." I said. If I was going to have to stay there, I was going to have to make some friends.

She gave me a warm smile. "Nice to meet you. Who's your godly parent?" Apparently she hadn't gotten word of what happened yet, which to me seemed a little impossible.

"Poseidon." The name obviously took her by surprise and realization crossed her face and her eyes widened as she finally understood who I was.

"Oh. Jessica said something about there being a daughter of Poseidon, but I didn't think it was true. She also told me you had- do you?!"

Obviously I knew what she meant, and her excitement made me laugh a little, in a kind way. "Yeah. I have powers from all the gods. We just don't how yet."

"Tyson! Hey!" Percy yelled randomly. Then I turned around.

There was a cyclops standing behind me.

Somehow I had ended up in front of Percy, so when I backed up away from the cyclops, I bumped into Percy, who grabbed my shoulders and kept me from tripping. "Relax," he said, "it's just Tyson. Our brother."

"Brother? He's our brother?"

"Yeah, he is. Tyson, this is Melody, our sister." Percy said.

Then Tyson rushed towards me.

I didn't have any time to react, because he wrapped his arms around me and lifted me in the air. "Sister!" And then, to my relief, he put me down and stepped back.

He had a huge, crooked grin on his face, showing off yellow teeth. I smiled faintly in return. "Hi." Then I turned to Percy and Riley. "I need a break. All this has been just so-so, pressuring."

"Well, what do you usually do to ease your mind?" Percy asked.

"Well, I usually either go swimming or play the piano." I replied.

"Oh!" Riley said excitedly.

"What?" I asked her.

"Guess what we have in the Apollo cabin?" She smiled at me.

"A piano?!" Riley nodded, grinning. "Let's go!" I said. Percy smiled, and gave a little laugh.

"I'll catch up with you later. I'm meeting up with Annabeth." he said.

"Oh really?" I asked. Percy glared at me, and I laughed. "See ya." I said, then Riley and I took off for the Apollo cabin.

At first glance, the Apollo cabin looks normal. But when the light hits it, it looks to be made of solid gold. It hurt a little to look at it when it gleamed. It made sense, because Apollo was the sun god.

Inside the cabin, the first thing I noticed was the electric piano against the wall. No one was using it, so I rushed to it and sat down, then immediately started playing one of my favorite fast piano songs called _Fires of a Revolution_.

Soon every head in the cabin was turned towards me as my fingers flew across the keys. I stopped about four minutes in, where it got really quiet and soft. It really goes on for about seven minutes, but I didn't feel like playing the whole song.

When I was finished, the cabin erupted in applause. I was a little embarrassed, but it was nice to be appreciated for my music. Although it didn't make me forget about what I had to do. You know, save the world and all that fun stuff.

I was feeling better, though, getting to play the piano. It really did calm me, even if I didn't really show it. Or feel it. But it did calm me, okay?! I was just told I was supposed to save the world, for Pete's sake!

And then there was that stuff about an impostor on Olympus. Maybe it was a mistake. Maybe one of the gods was just having a bad day and wasn't acting normal. Maybe I didn't need to save the world!

Even as I tried reassuring myself that that was possible, I knew it wasn't true.

Then there's the oracle. The say what now? Poseidon told me I needed to go to the oracle. I didn't even know what that was! I'm sure Percy could tell me, but did I really want to know? I wasn't so sure about much anymore.

Riley walked over to me. "Feel better?" she asked.

"Yeah." I replied. "But I think I'm gonna go for a swim." Riley nodded.

While heading back towards the lake, all I could think was: Is something weird going to happen again? Poseidon won't pop out of the water and say hi, will he?

When I got there, I jumped right in, willing myself to stay dry. I drew in a big breath, and plunged under water. I could see pretty clearly under there, and I could move the water with my mind to help me move along.

Then, without thinking, I took a breath.

I clapped my hands over my mouth, then realized that I wasn't coughing or choking or dying, so I cautiously took another breath. Nothing happened.

I could breathe underwater!

Wow, never thought I'd be thinking that!

Under the lake there were fish, and I swam around with them. They were a little shy at first, but they started to warm up to me. Just like with horses, I could speak telepathically with them, and we had some nice conversations down there.

I don't know how long I was under, but when I looked up toward the surface, I could see a face blurred by the water staring down, searching for something. Probably for me. They obviously couldn't see me though; I was too deep and the water wasn't clear enough. So I swam back up and ordered the air currents to lift me above the water, then float back over to shore.

There Riley was standing, watching me. She looked fascinated, and I couldn't blame her. I didn't understand how I had all those powers, but man was it cool to be able to fly, breathe underwater, talk to horses and who knew what else!

Then I noticed someone else standing with Riley.

It was a boy, probably about the same age as me and Riley, and a little taller than me. He had dark brown hair and eyes to match. He was wearing a Camp Half-Blood shirt and some jeans. His sneakers were a little worn out but other than that looked brand new.

"Melody," Riley said, "this is Liam. He's a son of Hecate."

"Hecate… Hecate… the goddess of magic?" I asked.

"That's the one." said Liam, smiling. "And you're Melody, I hear. Daughter of Poseidon."

"Yep, that's me." I said a little shyly. If you haven't noticed already, I'm a little shy. Riley noticed my being a little uncomfortable, and just had to tell me not to be shy in front of someone I barely knew.

"Don't worry, he won't bite!" she said, smiling. I smiled back. Riley looked expectant.

"What?" I asked.

"You too have officially met! Go on, shake hands!" I was starting to realize that Riley was a chipper, happy person, while I was more of the quiet type, though I was pretty sure we were starting to become good friends. So I did as she said.

When Liam and I shook hands, I felt some sort of shock, like a connection. How I knew what that felt like, I didn't know, but then I heard a voice.

_She's the one_, the voice said. _She'll help you save your father_.

I pulled my hand away quickly, staring into his confused brown eyes, but I think he realized what had happened, because he cleared his throat and stepped back a little. He was about to say something, probably to cover up the awkward moment, but he was saved by the sound of the horn for dinner.

"Oh, dinner time. Let's go." he said awkwardly. He glanced at me, then walked away, in the direction of the dining pavilion.

"What was that?" Riley asked. I just shrugged, staring after the strange boy.

Great. So not only am I supposed to save the world, but I have to help Liam save his dad too?

What had I gotten myself into?


End file.
